Mayuko's Most Precious Friend
by Winaru
Summary: Seven years after Sola, Takeshi is still trying to fulfill the promise he made to Mayuko in the early years when they literally stood shoulder to shoulder. She appears as young as ever yet the years are starting to show on his face. Takeshi knows he still has time, but sometimes he cannot help but wonder and fear what will happen to Mayuko if he dies before she becomes human again.
1. Prologue (I)

Author's Note: This is my first time writing for _Sola_ and I hope that you will enjoy it. There is definitely more to come so I hope you will stick with this story of Takeshi and Mayuko to the end. Although this story is a crossover of several different animes, I hope to keep the suspense of the "guess who's coming to dinner" game as long as possible, so I'll keep it as a regular fanfic until the answers become clear.

As always reviews are greatly appreciated!

Disclaimer: I own nothing (but the few OCs that tend to pop up here and there).

Enjoy!

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Prologue

I

Their path was narrow ahead, the shadows closed in on them, and the looming wall of loose bricks seemed to habour a secret wish to tumble down and crush them to death. A carpet of light stood at the very brink of their path and they sped toward it, their hearts sinking a little deeper into their stomachs each time the light faltered and shrunk a bit more into darkness. They were heading for the bridge that grew taller and grander with each leap forward they took.

"Is…it…back?" Takeshi croaked, gasping for breath as he ran.

Mayuko shook her head determinedly but her face was white as chalk and she pressed her arm tightly against her stomach.

"We need to hurry." Takeshi urged, still barely able to speak. "It's all over if we don't get to her shop by sunset. The woman said that this is the last chance we've got."

Mayuko followed him closely, clinging onto Takeshi's hand as if he was her only lifeline. Though the sun still hovered just above the horizon, the day was drawing dangerously to an end. They only had until sundown to recover what they had lost. This was their only chance, yet the shop was all the way on the other side of the river.

"We're not going to make it," Mayuko whispered as their footsteps echoed noisily in the dark and confined passageway. The next boat across the water would arrive in ten minutes, the trip itself would take at least half an hour, and they still had to find that tiny shop hidden among the million Sappori Street boutiques once they reached the other side. All of this to do, yet they had only twenty-five minutes left until darkness ate away the light. Their feet sloshed through puddles, and every now and then the sound of dust and small rocks falling to the ground reminded them that the wall around them could come crashing down at any moment. A fistful of debris fell in Mayuko's face and she wiped her tears away with her free arm. She stumbled over a small stone but Takeshi's strong grip kept her from falling. Sweat streamed down Takeshi's face, slithering into his eyes and mouth. He impatiently blinked away the stinging pain and swallowed down the slimy liquid he thought was saltier than tears. "We _are_ going to make it," he insisted, suddenly hastening his pace. His shadow tore across the dingy bricks at the speed of rain thundering down on the cold stone floor.

"Takeshi…"

"You'll be ok Mayuko." He insisted croakily. "I won't let anything happen to you."


	2. Prologue (II)

II

"I won't let anything happen to you. I'm going to fix this, Mayuko."

Takeshi looked away, his head hung forlornly over his chest.

By the time they reached the docks, the boat was still waiting for them, but the day had already fled.

Mayuko sat down beside him and laid her head gently into the bony dip in his shoulder. The stars blinked sympathetically in the dark night sky and the freezing water slapped ruthlessly against their troubled hearts. Her forehead felt cool against his sweaty neck and she took both of his hands into hers. Although his hands were almost double the size of hers they fit comfortably and he breathed deeply as her thumbs kneaded circles into his palms.

"I'm sorry Mayuko, I really thought we could make it." Takeshi sighed. He withdrew a hand from Mayuko and covered his face. Mayuko didn't reply but she lifted her eyes to stare at his wrinkles and the white hair that had begun to sprout only a year earlier. Takeshi had clear black shadows under his eyes and his clothes smelled heavily of the rich okonomiyaki they had eaten less than an hour ago for a late lunch.

While ubiquitous by the Dotonburi canal in Osaka, Takeshi had basically turned the whole city upside down trying to look for them. They would have finished them off civilly if only Takeshi hadn't looked up at the last moment and saw that they only had ten minutes to run to the docks and board the 5:30 ferry to Sappori Street on the other side of the river. Even if they had ran they would never have made it, so they decided to catch up on lunch before sprinting off for the first bus that would take them in the direction of the docks. They had a full thirty minutes until the next boat arrived and the bus to the docks always came at 5:42. From where they stood, they had all the time in the world, yet their spirits hung low as they thought about what might happen if they couldn't make it on time.

They arrived at the bus stop five minutes early, at 5:37. Just in case. Yet the moment they stepped on the bus they were caught in a freak rainstorm that was causing delays across the whole area. Under his breath, Takeshi repetitiously cursed the weather man, Yori Tomo, who had neglected to say a word about this violent downpour in the weather forecast they had watched earlier that day, with their noses pressed against the window of an electronics shop, until the bus dropped them off in front of a warehouse about seven minutes away from the docks. From there they sprinted off to where the old man Fujiwara was waiting for them with his granddaughter Tomoko and their boat,_ Aoi no Mori_. Twelve passengers were already on board when Takeshi and Mayuko arrived. Every one of them wore dissatisfied frowns when they saw the pair advance towards them. They shook their heads impatiently and some muttered words into their neighbours' ears as they spotted the adult latecomer candidly cramming a single 1000 yen note into Fujiwara's wrinkled tan hand. Takeshi muttered a word of thanks into the old man's ear. Standing beside him and holding his other tanned and wrinkly hand, a young girl waved cheerfully at Mayuko who responded only with a brief nod as she sped past, heading for the last pair of empty seats at the very back with Takeshi in tow.

"You have quite a crowd tonight." Takeshi said to the old man in passing.

"Yeah, it's New Year's Eve. Lots of folks prefer not to miss it," Fujiwara called after him gruffly. Once they were out of earshot he gestured for Tomoko to follow them to the back. "Get the feather duster for me. We have to leave now if we want to be there by 6. Tsu-kun's just gonna have to take the next boat outta here or he'll have to wait 'til tomorrow."

"But you sold him a ticket," said the little girl Tomoko suspiciously, narrowing her eyes and tilting her head to one side. "You're not going to let him get his ride even though he bought a ticket?"

"Yeah fine, I'll give his money back when I see him," the old man replied, "Aren't you way too young to care 'bout this stuff? It's his own bad luck for comin' even later than those two! I had you there when I told him we were leavin' in 30 minutes and guess what? It's 5:45 already and he hasn't bothered to show up. Who knows where he's gone gallivantin' off to? We've gotta schedule to keep! There's just as many people on the other side waitin' to come back here as there are people on this boat we're takin' to the places they want to be."

Tomoko's frown deepened. By herself, she couldn't think of a single reason why somebody would want to 'come back here' at all. She peered searchingly up at Fujiwara, trying to find the answer scratched into the dark folds on his face as he methodically unfastened the rope that tied the boat to the island.

The winds were still low and the waves knocked the boat about playfully in the water. Clenching her grandfather's hand tightly as the boat rocked to and fro, Tomoko tried to figure out why what he just said was true. Fujiwara caught a glance at her as he worked; grinning amusedly when he finally realized how much her furrowed eyebrows looked like the pink hooks of the toy fishing pole he wrapped up just last week for her birthday.

"So? You're thinking about something. What is it this time?"

"Why do people want to come to this side?" Tomoko pondered out loud.

"Why do you think?"

"It's because…The reason is…Grass is always greener on the other side?" She replied suspiciously as though she were a first-grader picked out to answer a teacher's question before the whole class.

"Well. Maybe that's it. It's another possibility that could be true, isn't it?" Her grandfather chuckled.

The thick rope in Fujiwara's hand stayed motionless for a second longer. Behind them the passengers continued to chatter loudly amongst themselves, most of them chirping complaints as to why the boat was still not moving. Huddled somewhere inside this noisy crowd, Takeshi and Mayuko rested quietly, leaning against each other with nothing to contribute to the fervid discussions. Tomoko paused mid-nod, realizing that the meaning behind her grandfather's words had tactfully eluded her grasp.

"Some of 'em live over there but they've jobs to do on the island. Most of 'em are here on this boat like we are. Then we're gonna bring back a whole different type of crowd once this lot disappears when we're on the other side. They're the ones who work in those super tall buildings with the big, bright lights. They wear suits and live in fancy apartments, but their families live on the island so when the New Year comes again we've gotta bring them back." Fujiwara shrugged. "That's all there is to it."

"So Tsuyoshi-san's family lives on the main land? Then shouldn't we take him back to his family?"

"Well if he wanted to be back he should have gotten here by 5:30 like I told him…" Fujiwara grunted moodily as he proceeded to reel in the thick plaited rope. "I don't know what's keepin' him. I bet it's his new job. They're always like that. Every time I see him he's got more cuts on his arms. They might've even killed him already…" He muttered, more to himself than to Tomoko though he was aware that she always listened intently to every word he said. "Nah, I guess it's not likely. As much as he's still got to learn, Shigure won't let a potential successor die that easily. Of course who knows what will happen if it turns out that Tsu-chan doesn't have enough of his grandfather's spirit in him?

He glanced down at Tomoko hesitantly, waiting for the stampede of questions to charge rabidly out from her mouth. Yet…had she not heard him? Or was there a peaceful side to her he hadn't known about until now? Whatever the reason it seemed she had decided not to question him any more about it. She simply stood there, her head turned towards the travelers who were yakking away like garrulous parrots in a cage. A stronger wind blew towards them, causing the waves to knock against them more aggressively than before.

"It's like they're at a circus now." She mumbled. "Are we really going to go across like this?"

"Yeah, yeah, they're always like that." He glimpsed down at his watch. "But it's just going to get worse so we can't afford to linger about any longer…Go grab me the feather duster will you Tomoko?"

But Tomoko refused to budge. "Tsuyoshi-san promised he would take me to _her_ shop when we got to the other side."

"Hmm?"

"He told me we would go to the black-butterfly-kimono-wearing-lady's shop after he got you that drink at his grandfather's sushi shop. How's he going to take me there if we don't take him with us?"

"I could take you."

"You said we still had to take the people back from over there." She looked up at him distrustfully.

Fujiwara put his hand on her head, ruffling up her hair. "I'll take you there, okay? But we'll be stuck here all night and we'll never get to the pretty lady's shop unless I rustle up the engines with the river spirit's giant feather duster. The black-butterfly-kimono-wearing-lady said it was for good luck, remember? I promise to take you to her shop after stopping at the restaurant. If you'd go get it for me…"

"What's the use? You're just going to break your promise again." He thought he heard Tomoko say, but in the next second she had let go of Fujiwara's hand and was thumping down the wooden deck, past the section where the middle aged man and the girl who looked only a few years older than Tomoko sat.

"Uh…" A voice barked through the loudspeaker as the child bounded past. "To all you passengers…" Fujiwara paused to clear its throat. "Sorry for the delay and for the inconvenience...If you happen to cross paths with a guy whose last name is Yamamoto, give him hell from me because it's his fault that all of you are late getting to your families… But I thank you all for waiting so patiently…We are ready now to leave Sappori Island!" He exclaimed in a tone of excitement that was almost mocking. "Our sixth and final station is Sappori Street! This isn't a plane so feel free to get up and walk about! We'll probably arrive in Sappori Street at 6:30…!"

Switching off the loudspeaker, Fujiwara turned to Tomoko, who had just returned to his side, with a tired look in his eyes: "Ah! Why it's too late!" He continued in his previous tone, but quickly reverted to his usual self when he saw Tomoko leering at him in embarrassment and disbelief. "So much for getting free drinks at Yama-kun's place. Let's just go straight to Yuuko-chan's the second we hit dry land. _She_ always has a bottle or two lying around." He said, murmuring the last part so only he could hear.

Finally the ferry began its slow journey across the river.


End file.
